Wandering Smiles
by bloomabilityx
Summary: Three best friends learn that with cleverness, chance, and a dash of Liza Minelli...almost anything is possible. AU.
1. Chapter 1

A/n: I don't own anything fools, except for my madeups.

The Pretty Committee;

Alicia Rivera: Alpha, of course. She's got the beauty, brains, and comebacks to making her the nasty uncontested ruler of BOCD. So why is she suddenly insecure because of an LBR?

Olivia Ryan: The ditzy beta, but has the looks to get her in the Pretty Committee. So willing to get rid of the loser who suddenly is buddy-buddy with her boyfriend.

Kristen Gregory: The m/athlete. Good at social studies and soccer. Language and lacrosse. Math and- well, you get the point.

Dylan Marvil: The gossiper. Probably inherited from her talk-show host mother, but insecure at well, almost everything!

The Outcasts:

Massie Block: Spends her time between writing for the school paper, practicing yoga, and helping her two besties with their art. She's the person you go to advice for, who'd compliment you no matter what. If only she would take her own advice when she attracts the attention of Alicia's boyfriend. Can we say catfight?

Claire Lyons: Hates the Pretty Committee with a passion. Her parents are globetrotters, so she and her little brother Todd live Massie and her folks. She is an artist, define her as that. But what happens when the resident ice queen starts warming up to Cam Fisher of all people?

Sam Holloway: Gets enough smack for hanging out with Massie and Claire, his "sisters". Loves all things theatre and Liza Minelli, but gets a crash course in popularity when Dylan Marvil shows interest in him. 


	2. Chapter 2

A/n: Short chapter, just a setup.

Disclaimer: Consider it disclaimed!

"MASSIE!" A shrill voice called out from upstairs, interrupting the calming music of Enya that flowed through the Block home.

"You'd better come, Claire's having one of her artistic meltdowns." Sam Holloway scoffed, absentmindedly sitting on the stairs flipping through an old "Marie Claire" magazine.

"Oh shocker. I swear she's going to go crazy trying to finish that portrait, you know. Fruit can only be interesting for so long. Come on." Massie Block stood up gracefully, storing away her yoga mat. This was their schedule. Wake up, trudge off to school, come home, eat, yoga/magazine/paint, and rinse and repeat. You get the drift.

"I dunno, oranges are just so...unique." Sam joked, widening his green eyes in mock interest.

"Nothing compared to apples. Know a word that rhymes with oranges?" Massie shot back, hands on hips.

"Touche."

"I try."

Snickering up the stairs, they finally reached Claire's neon room. Literally everything was in color and had touches of Claire's style. Mismatched as it was, the room was her.

"Massie...Sam...I'm...speechless The blonde stood back to study her work, in an almost scary way. To Massie and Sam, it was just a painting of a fruit bowl.

To Claire, it was so much more.

"What do you think?" Claire demanded suddenly, inspecting the shading of her painting.

Massie twirled a dark lock of hair; Sam bit his nails. Finally, Sam broke the silence with an exaggerated "its fabulous!" before Claire pounced on them. Laidback as she was, she had a temper.

Massie nodded immediately. "Yeah...Da Vinci got nothin on you." She stammered, genuinely trying to see what the big fuss was about.

Claire tried to keep a straight face, but in a noble attempt she burst out in a fit of hysteria. Her pale face was blotched with red, wide blue eyes watering at the sight of her two best friends.

"Oh my...you should of seen your faces! Da Vinci, Mass? I'm not that good!" She giggled more.

"Call me crazy...but I don't get the joke." Sam said dryly to Massie.

"Well, we've got 911 on speed dial." Massie muttered back, wondering if her dad had any tranquilizers.

Claire finally went back to her somewhat sane mode, and beamed at the painting.

"I hate it." She announced jovially, chucking back in the trash where it belonged. And just like that, the three of them snickered and laughed some more as the made their way back downstairs.

Back on schedule. 


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Ah, the nessacary backstory!**

**Disclaimer: Consider it disclaimed**

It had all started in the summer of fifth grade. Most of the girls divided their time between staring at Mikey Richards (neighborhood hottie) and hanging out at the pool. Massie had a fear of water. Scratch that, call it phobia. Aquaphobia.

"I will not go in the water." She huffed, planting her feet on the marble floor of the pool deck. "I refuse. You cannot make me, Sameer Holloway." She added with a frown, thoroughly aware that she was coming off as a bratty little kid. That was Massie; chill but stubborn as a donkey. Her amber eyes flashed with anger. After the infamous trip to the lake last year, Massie was never the same around water.

Sam cringed at the sound of his full name. Always the effeminate boy, he was adopted from Bangladesh as a young child to the Holloway estate. The Holloways and Blocks lived a few doors down from each other, and since he and Massie were the same age, they were always lumped together for neighborhood events.

"Okay. I'll give you a deal. You come in the pool with me, I don't talk about Pokemon for a month." Sam was addicted to that game, he could talk about it for hours, much to Massie's chagrin.

Massie pretended to consider the offer, even rubbing her chin in though for good measure. "Uh, no!" She cried, sticking her tongue out at Sam in defiance.

"Really. I think she's chicken." A voice came out. Though blinded by the summer sun, the pair turned around and squinted at the newcomer. It was apparently the new girl everyone was so anxious about. To be honest, there was nothing incredible about her. White blonde hair, blue eyes. Hardly exotic.

Massie still scoffed at the girl, putting her hands on her hips in her fiercest stance. She had learned from the Discovery Channel (again, one of Sam's 'hobbies') that lionesses like to scare off their prey with an angry pose. Channeling her inner lioness, Massie shot back with the ferocity of a pistol.

"Who you callin' a chicken?" She snapped, in disbelief this girl had the nerve to call her that. Yes, Massie wasn't as popular as the other girls, but at least they had a shred of sanity not to call Massie Audrey Block a _chicken_.

"I didn't call you steak." The girl replied coolly, keeping an even tone. She adjusted her paint splattered t-shirt nonchalantly, but Massie had noticed that her hair had blotches of paint as well, leaving her slightly intrigued. Heck, in fifth grade, anything not Pokemon or Bratz was intriguing.

With a sudden surge of animosity, Massie let out her own little roar, and pushed the new girl in the pool. Her eyes squinted, jaw out, she looked downright scary. There was no way this girl could just-

Massie's train of thought was interrupted by a rush of water. She couldn't talk, she could only feel herself coughing.

Incredible.  
That girl had the nerve to pull Massie in the pool along with her.

"I-I'm drowning! I can't breathe! HELP!" Massie choked out, spitting out the chlorine as she did. She couldn't see, what if she had gone blind? "I can see the light! HELP ME!" She could hear herself screaming. This was the end-

But, then she heard another sound. Laughter. Who could be laughing at a time like this when dear life was at stake? Massie turned her head, her wet hair slapping her in the face. The new girl was giggling at her. Oh, she was so dead.

"Get up. Its knee deep." The new girl said, offering a hand to help Massie up. Massie felt a rush of crimson flowing to her cheeks. But instead of embarrassment, she found herself chuckling as well. Knee deep. Life had a funny way of tricking you like that.

"I'm Claire by the way. Claire Lyons." The new girl introduced herself as they waded back to Sam.

"I'm Massie Block. Did you move in the Mendes home?" She found herself in a conversation with Claire about the neighborhood. Was she really becoming friends with someone who had called her chicken? Mary Eve Sanders called Massie a chicken in kindergarten, and the two haven't talked since (even though Massie leff her some scars by hitting her with a toy shovel)

"Hey Sam, this is Claire." Massie introduced to her to Sam, who at that point was reading an old "Ok!" magazine.

"That's a relief. I'm Sam. I thought you two killed each other in there, scared off some toddlers." Sam grinned, sarcasm evident in his tone.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. The one in the Dora The Explorer swim suit looked pretty scary. I almost cried." Claire joked, plopping down on Massie's towel. Normally, Massie would bark at the girl to get off, but something about Claire seemed magnetic. Like she fit perfectly with Massie and Sam.

Luckily for her, Massie was right.

It was no doubt that Massie, Claire, and Sam became best friends immediately. They began sixth grade together, and still are tight, even as 15 year olds. They went through pimples, parties, and pranks against the Pretty Committee. Hard to believe that a group of such friendship was born simply with the word _chicken._


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: And now we get to the story. DRAMADRAMADRAMA. I'm updating more, I have a lot of the chapters started. **

**Disclaimer: Ain't mine yo, Lisi ftw. I own the plot. And Sam!**

**BOCD Hallways**

**Monday, March 2, 2007**

** 8:56 AM  
**

It was simply common sense that the Pretty Committee was even more ruthless on Mondays. Apparently, they saved all insults over weekend while they sharpened their claws (one of Sam's theories), Even so, every Monday morning the PC members would strut across the halls, flaunting their new clothes and freshly blown out hair.

And every Monday morning, the BOCD chatter would halt, if only for a moment.  
But this Monday morning, the same chatter was interrupted.

_"Click clack click clack" _Went the heels of the Pretty Committee. As much as Claire hated to admit it, they looked cool walking, mastering the art of stilettos. She stood by her own locker, watching Massie adjust the pictures of going to Six Flags a week ago.

Massie was relaxed.  
Claire was a wreck.

Though a self-proclaimed anti-PCer, it was the simple fact that the four of those brats liked to verbally attack her for no reason at all. Putting on a brave face, fixed her electric blue t-shirt, with a lemon yellow cardigan thrown over it haphazardly over jeans. It was Claire's favorite outfit, but that didn't help. At all.

Alicia Rivera and her 'friends' (minions a more appropriate term), stopped at Massie and Claire's spot. Her cherry red lips curled into a devious smile, and Claire swore if there were a flash of lightning Alicia could scare Hannibal Lector.

"Nice shirt. I love the way you can pull off looking like an LBR without trying." Alicia purred, with Olivia, Kristen, and Dylan snickering behind her. Claire flushed automatically, but closed her locker and glared right back.

"Nice comeback. I love the way you can sound like a brat without trying." Claire snapped, pursing her lips to the side. She always did that when she was angry, Sam always told her it made her look like a pug. She glanced at Massie, who was now standing by Sam and whispering something. She noticed Massie was blushing as Sam pointed to one of the boys trailing Alicia's posse.

Claire stole a look in that direction, still keeping her tough gaze. _Who is she staring at?,_Claire thought, but found herself staring at another boy. Dark wavy hair, not much taller than herself. Claire knew he was in her math class, and apparently on the soccer team, judging by his jersey and friends. But what she _hadn't _noticed was his eyes. One blue, one green.

Alicia must have noticed Claire's staring at the boy, and nudged Olivia in the side with an evil grin. Olivia mouthed a _"what?" _at Alicia, and she then pointed to the boy Claire had been ogling. Olivia must have gotten the memo, and put her slim arm around the boy in a possessive way.

"Oh yeah, this is my _boyfriend_." Olivia sneered at Claire, though she noted that the boy didn't look quite impressed with that. Before Claire could respond, Kristen cut in.

"Once an LBR...always and LBR!" She cackled as the bell rang and the Pretty Committee and their boys headed to their respective classes, leaving Claire wondering just _who_ that boy was.

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"Ugh. Petty Committee insulting someone? I'm so shocked. Why don't they go pick on someone else, like each other? Cat fight of the year, Mass, think about it." Sam remarked, showing up to school finally. Sam believed that school was just daycare, only you had to read more.

"You know it, Sammy." Massie muttered, bending down to tie her bright pink sneakers. Truth be told, her shoes didn't even need to be tied. She hated the Monday morning drama, Claire was much better suited toward facing them. Massie, as much as she hated to say, was a pacifist.

Her thoughts were intruded by a sudden pain on her back, and she felt herself being propelled forward. A dirty sneaker hit her nose, her amber eyes watering in pain. Massie stood up, dusting herself off. Forget pacifism. She was gonna kick whoever decided to-

"Whoa, hey. Sorry. Plovert pushed me, the idiot." The obvious culprit said, running a hand through his shaggy dirty blonde hair, much with the mischievous air of a little child. Massie stood, gaping at him in shock.

Massie had known Derrick Harrington for 5 years, but he _never_ talked to her. Let alone trip her. She couldn't even string together a sentence, the shock engulfed her.

"Um, I didn't like...hit your brain?" He said again, looking a little worried. "You're...Macy, right?" Luckily, Sam stepped in to be Massie's translator, though she could expect a few fish girl jabs for her facial expression..

"She means she's okay. And her name is Mahhh-seee." Sam exaggerated the "a" in her name, rolling his wide eyes. "And she thinks you're a fox-"

"Trotter." Massie finished, silently swearing to kill Sam. "Fox trotter. Like ball room dancing. Uh, like _Dancing With The Stars._" Massie blushed, she was so, so stupid. Ball room dancing? He'll probably never talk to her again.

Sam grinned; he knew that Massie always harbored a small crush on Derrick, or 'Derrington' as they secretly called him. But once Derrington started going out with Alicia Rivera (leaving Josh Hotz to date Kristen), Massie despised Alicia even more. But nothing could be said, Massie knew Sam had a thing for Dylan Marvil (despite allegations that he was gay).

The bell rang, and Massie couldn't be more grateful. Before she could compose herself, Derrington just frowned at the pair a little before running off to class with his friends.

As soon as he left, Massie turned to Sam and got all the strength she could muster and punched him in the arm.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE'S A FOX?" She cried out, sending a blast of punches to Sam's skinny arms. "He'll never talk to me again." She murmured, kicking Sam in the shin again before gathering her books and pulling Sam to math class.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Haha, this was kinda fun to write.

Disclaimer: Tutti gli elementi ed i caratteri che lei riconosce sono dei dei Lisi!

**The Math Classroom**

**March 2, 2007**

**9:24 AM**

Mrs. Meyers was not much like the other teachers. Instead of just lecturing (which was unbearable for her students to listen to her high scratchy voice). She would assign them to groups, and force them to complete a series of math problems before the class was over. Simple enough. But the fact that almost all of the Pretty Committee and their boyfriends had this class made it doubly unbearable.

At least for Claire.

"First Monday of March! You all know what that means" Mrs. Meyers called out, adjusting her wire rim glasses so they rested on her hawk nose. She was a warm lady, but not one to let you get off with /just/ a warning.

Every first Monday of the month (with some rumors that this was the only time Mrs. M was PMSing), Mrs. Meyers changed the seating chart. Last month, Claire, Sam, and Massie all sat at the same table, but February only had 28 days (counting weekends) and that was hardly fair. Even so, Mrs. Meyers took out her clipboard and made everyone stand at the front of the room.

"Bets I'm gonna end up at a table with the she-witches?" Sam grumbled as he took one last look at his coveted spot. Claire noticed he was rubbing his arm in pain a lot, and Massie was shooting daggers at him.

"Nah. But they'll all end up at a table knowing our luck." Claire mused, grabbing her Hello Kitty binder. Massie wasn't saying anything, she seemed to be in her own little daze, but Claire noted that Massie looked in the soccer players direction a lot. She turned her head over there ever so slightly, and caught the different colored eyes of the mysterious boyfriend of Olivia Ryan again. She turned her head back to her friends, her pale face tinged with pink and her woven fedora lowered to her eyes.

"All right. At this table I want Sam Holloway, Ashley Deluca, May-see Block-" Mrs. Meyers began motioning to a table before Massie cut her off.

"Massie. Like sassy." She corrected automatically, earning an eye roll from the disgruntled teacher.

"_Massie_ Block, and Dylan Marvil." Mrs. Meyers finished with a flourish. Sam smiled with joy at the thought of being in such a close proximity with Dylan, but Dylan just scoffed and ignored him.

One by one, the students were assigned to tables. Claire and a few others were the only ones left. This was worse than gym class. Who gets picked last for _math?_

"And finally, I need Joshua Hotz, Olivia Ryan, Cameron Fisher-" Mrs. Meyers was once again interrupted, Olivia let out a loud squeal at the prospect of sitting by her boyfriend. "And Claire Lyons." 

Claire gasped quietly, and let out a sharp breath. She tasted pennies in her mouth, a sign she was going to throw up. She felt every eyes on her as she walked to her doomsday-err-table. _Be brave. Don't let them get to you. Breathe in. Breathe out. Good. Don't trip, then you can't show your face at all._

Somehow, she made it without tripping or puking. She calmly took the seat by Josh Hotz, diagonal from Duh-livia, and across from Cam. Mrs. Meyers left to go get her worksheet copies, so Claire pulled out her sketchbook Sam had given her for Christmas and continued on her sketch of the Eiffel Tower. Josh was occupying himself by cracking his fists, Olivia was texting someone on her phone, she wasn't sure where the other boy had left, but Claire really didn't care.

She began to lose herself in her art, while she drew she always thought. If you flipped through her notebook, you would find about 3 sketches of Massie and Sam, 6 of buildings, and 1 of fruit. Claire always signed her art "The Ice Queen", a nickname her friends had given her. It was almost impossible for someone to find real emotion in her, besides irritation, joy, or melodrama. More commonly the latter.

Claire was in a state of utter trance as she continued her drawing. A line here, shading over there, she had never gone to Paris, but that's where all the artists had gone at least once. Her life was drawn out before her. She would've continued her daze if her book hadn't been snatched from her hands.

Beautiful as she was, Olivia could look downright ugly with that sneer of hers. "Hah. Drawing the Eiffel Tower, are we?" She scoffed, pronouncing it "E-iy-fell".

Claire rolled her eyes and put her hand out. "Its pronounced the I-fell tower, and give me back my book." She demanded, once again putting on her pug face.

"You fell off it?"

"What? No, ugh that's not what I meant. Just give it back!" She yelled, taking her book back, holding it like a precious child. Watch out Duh-livia, the ice queen was back. For the first time since they had new seats, Josh looked mildly interested. The other boy wasn't back yet. Wait, why did Claire keeping looking for him in the first place? If he was dumb enough to go out with Duh-livia, then obviously he-

The boy sat back down, and surprisingly smiled at Claire. She felt her eyes staring straight into his blue and green one. Unlike any of his friends, he actually seemed _approachable_. Claire felt like she couldn't breathe, all with one look at her.

"Hi. I'm Cam Fisher." He greeted her warmly, not as an LBR or whatever the others called her, but as a friend.

March 1, 2007: The Ice Queen has officially melted.


End file.
